Maril Davis talks the difficulties of filming North Carolina in Scotland

Outlander Season 4 saw Claire and Jamie head to the Colonies and make a home there. However, Outlander production remained in Scotland. What are the difficulties in filming?

While Outlander Season 3 saw Claire and Jamie on the high seas, it wasn’t until Season 4 that the location of their home permanently changed. They decided to make a life in North Carolina, but the production remained in Scotland. There are many reasons for that and we won’t get into them, but the decision has caused a few difficulties along the way.

Maril Davis shared some of those difficulties during the STARZ winter TCAs. It’s not the finding of the locations that has caused trouble. Finding them at the last minute has been a little bit of an issue.

Production has to remain ahead of the game, with Plan Bs, Cs, and more in the wings. Should a location fall through, another location needs to be sought. This was somewhat difficult during the first two seasons when the show was set in Scotland, but it was a little easier to find somewhere that would work. After all, Scotland has an array of beautiful buildings that still stand from the time period Claire and Jamie were in.

Now that the show is set in North Carolina, things are a little harder. Davis shared that it can be trickier to find locations should something fall through at the last minute. North Carolina in the 18th century wasn’t surrounded by stone buildings unlike Scotland, so trying to find something suitable is often harder.

And it’s not just if locations fall through. Sometimes the Art Department can fall behind, leading to production having to find something else.

However, Davis also praised the Art Department for the work in making Scotland look as close to North Carolina as possible. Of course, there are people who say that the place is nothing like where they live, but that’s the case with any production. It’s not always common for a show to shoot in the exact location of the setting, so the surroundings will always look different, but that’s just life in TV.

What do you love about still seeing Scotland used for North Carolina in Outlander? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Outlander Season 5 premieres on Feb. 16 on STARZ.